Publisher Activision has just added a few more games and maybe one more development studio to its kill count. A now partially confirmed report says that the mega-publisher has axed the Guitar Hero franchise, killed its True Crime reboot and fired much of Freestyle Games.

Update: Activision confirms that Guitar Hero and True Crime: Hong Kong are no more, writing "due to continued declines in the music genre, the company will disband Activision Publishing's Guitar Hero business unit and discontinue development on its Guitar Hero game for 2011. The company also will stop development on True Crime: Hong Kong. These decisions are based on the desire to focus on the greatest opportunities that the company currently has to create the world's best interactive entertainment experiences."

Activision did its part to thin the typically obese late year release schedule today, delaying True …
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The demise of the Guitar Hero franchise may not come as a surprise after declining sales of the series, which was most recently updated with the so-so Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock. Whether Activision will completely do away with DJ Hero, following the alleged gutting of developer Freestyle Games, remains to be seen.